Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 51 | Page 52

FEATURE: SOFTWARE Can you tell us about your project with Smart Dubai? We’ve been engaged with Smart Dubai for a period of around 18 months now. Earlier this year we officially went into a couple of projects with them, one of which was unveiled at GITEX at the Smart Dubai booth. Working with our partner Palmira, this project will have a serious impact on the look of the IT landscape in Dubai. In terms of Software AG what have you got planned for the next 12 months? By the end of 2019, we should have just marked our fifth consecutive year of double- digit growth in the region. So that’s the kind of mode we are in as an organisation. There are many reasons for the growth. We look at continuing this momentum. We see tremendous demand for what we do and we expect to continue this into 2020 and 52 INTELLIGENTCIO ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// beyond that. GITEX was a big driving force in terms of pipeline, in terms of acceleration of what we’re doing with many customers. So we are very upbeat about 2020. 2020 is the year of the expo so that’s also an interesting angle from the perspective of a technology multinational such as ourselves. Another thing happening in 2020 is we’re expanding our offices. So, we continue to invest in hiring and expanding our offices. big way, also from the German Council and the German Embassy in the UAE. We proactively and actively engage with them in looking at fostering the This is a private place where we can showcase things in the privacy of our own office to customers and partners alike. Can you tell us anything about your involvement in the Expo 2020 exhibition? We are in discussions at the moment with the German Pavilion. Germany is, if I remember correctly, in the top three of the global participants in Expo 2020. We are very well connected within the German business community here and supported in a Rami Kichli, Vice-President, Gulf and Levant at Software AG www.intelligentcio.com